Under The Sea

Chapter Thirty-Two - A Price To Pay

Axel freezes as he takes in the sight of his Kingdom below him, a destroyed shell of what it had been just weeks ago. After her warning, Finn had passed out, and Axel had to wait three days before she woke up again, and was strong enough to speak.

Finn had revealed that they surprised the Kingdom as the sea witch invaded, launching her attack in the middle of the day. They concentrated the bulk of the attack on the Kingdom, as they seized the entrances and breached the walls, causing a frenzy inside. Yet, sirens targeted the merpeople working in the fields that day as well.

Finn revealed she had been shelling with her parents when the attack began. They attempted to flee, but were no match for the seed of the sirens, who attacked them, and dragged her parents back to the Kingdom. Finn was the only one who escaped the field, having been shielded by her parents while she fled.

Axel had hoped that her description of the attack had been exaggerated because of her injuries and trauma, but as he swam closer to the rubble of Latistan, a permeant tremble seemed to settle along his spine. Beside him, Samuel swam up to take his hand, his other clasped on the hilt of his father's sword.

Axel had attempted to convince him to stay behind in Latistan, but Samuel had refused, insulted at the idea that Axel thought he would let him swim towards danger alone. Axel had to admit that he felt a sense of security having Samuel at his side, but the lurching feeling that he was placing him in danger lingered in his gut.

As they sank down to pass through one of the open gates in the wall, a sense of dread consumed every inch of his body, taking in the dark marks along the building walls and the destroyed structures all around.

"I thought Finn said the Kingdom was swarming with sirens and jellyfish," Samuel whispers, moving closer to Axel. "Where are they?"

"I'm not sure," Axel returns, his voice just as low, as they approached the castle entrance, "maybe she got what she wanted and left."

"If that were true, then where are all the merpeople?"

Axel's throat clenched as the logical response to Samuel's question registered in both their minds. Just the thought that everyone was gone enough to make his entire body go limp. Without another word, they continue their way through the palace; the silence overtaking the surrounding space.

As they approach the throne room, Axel's grip on Samuel's hand tightens, and Samuel returns it in solace. The large doors, ripped from their hinges, lie broken in the sand as they approach and swim into the room. Axel scans the room, catching the rubble of the palace scattered across the sand.

"Axel?" Clara's voice emerges from his side, and his body tenses as he turns to find her, chained to the floor beside the raised platform where their thrones sat.

"Clara!" Axel exclaims, and rushes towards her, unaware of his surroundings, as he approaches her.

"No, Axel, Run!" Clara struggles against her chains, "It's a trap!"

Before Axel registers the warning, a sinister laugh echoes around the room, and Axel turns to find Samuel being held by two sirens as a group of them emerges from the shadows and comes up to take hold of him.

"How predictable," a familiar voice echoes around him, "just like your mother."

The words seemed spat, as the woman emerged from behind the large throne fashioned for his father. Axel's eyes fell over his aunt as he took in her appearance, altered from their previous encounter. Her black hair flowed stiffly around her as her piercing black eyes bore into Axel, who struggled against the grips on his arms.

Her tentacles seemed to have elongated from their first encounter and swirled around her as she moved closer. A villainous grin stretched across her dark lips as she approached Axel. Down her body, the scales coating her skin ranged in a mirage of blacks, dark blues, and purples to the tip of her tail.